‘LUANN’ COMIC STRIP CREATOR VISITS ANOTHER AGE, STAGE

Ten thousand mornings ago, Greg Evans could not have imagined where Luann would take him.

Evans was 38 years old in 1985, when he began writing and illustrating what has become one of the most successful daily comic strips, named for a never-aging blonde teenager surrounded by a forever-young cast of peers and a dog named Puddles.

Now 65, Evans recently has overseen the production of another type of story, dealing with the other end of the life cycle.

It’s a musical called “Wrinkles,” written by Evans for an ensemble of older actors that grapples with the aches and pains of an aging generation.

The production debuted in Vista during spring 2010, moved to the Welk Theatre last year, and will appear this March in Fallbrook.

For an artist who has spent 27 years imagining teenage life a few newsprint frames at a time, the show is somewhat of a departure.

“It’s similar in the sense that a comic strip and a stage piece are 100 percent dialogue,” he said.

“All you’re writing is dialogue. Of course, the primary difference is that there’s music involved in a musical.”

Evans wrote all 15 of the songs in “Wrinkles.”

“I can play rudimentary piano — just enough to plunk out a melody — then I hire an orchestrator to write the scores,” he said.

Ultimately, the reward of writing for the stage is that Evans gets to witness an audience interacting with his characters. Potentially millions of readers visit “Luann” over breakfast every day, but their smiles are lost to the solitary cartoonist in his den, crafting the story.

“When I write a stage piece, I can sit in the audience and hear a reaction,” he said. “It’s very satisfying when people laugh at a line you’ve written, or applaud a song.”

Evans’ first theatrical piece, “Luann” the musical, debuted in 2006 and has been produced at least a dozen times locally.

He said his purpose with that play was to give teenagers an acting outlet that didn’t require them to portray much older characters.

“I wrote ‘Luann’ before ‘High School Musical’ came along because there was nothing, really, for teenagers to do, he said. “On the other end of the scale, there’s not much for older actors to do in musical theater. They might play the mom or the dad, but that’s about it.”

Wrinkles were inevitable — hence the latest musical.

“I just turned 65, so I’m writing from experience about the aches and the pains and the annoyances of old age,” he said.

Directed by Eliane Weidauer, “Wrinkles” is scheduled for two weekends, March 8-10 and 15-17, at Dominick’s Deli, 1118 N. Main Ave. in Fallbrook. Visit
www.curtaincallcompany.com.